San Diego Cnty. Health & Human Servs. Agency v. T.B. (In re D.B.)

237 Cal. Rptr. 3d 53, 26 Cal. App. 5th 320
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal, 5th District
DecidedAugust 20, 2018
DocketD073807
StatusPublished
Cited by114 cases

This text of 237 Cal. Rptr. 3d 53 (San Diego Cnty. Health & Human Servs. Agency v. T.B. (In re D.B.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal, 5th District primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
San Diego Cnty. Health & Human Servs. Agency v. T.B. (In re D.B.), 237 Cal. Rptr. 3d 53, 26 Cal. App. 5th 320 (Cal. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

McCONNELL, P. J.

*323T.B. and L.B. appeal findings and orders adjudicating their younger son a dependent of the juvenile court under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivision (j),1 and removing him from their custody under section 361, subdivision (c)(1). They do not challenge findings and orders under sections 300, subdivision (a) and 361, made on behalf of their older son, Jordan, who suffered serious injuries as a result of the parents' routine practice of hitting him with a belt as punishment. We affirm.

*56FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

T.B. and L.B. have two sons, six-year-old Jordan,2 and two-year-old D.B. On January 28, 2018, when Jordan arrived at school, his teacher noticed he was limping badly and blood was seeping through his jeans. Jordan said his right leg hurt "all the way up." Examinations revealed numerous linear marks, mainly on his right thigh, in different stages of healing. In many areas, *324the marks had scabbed over. He had a two-inch scar on his middle back. Jordan's skin was broken in some places and he was bleeding. Jordan was wearing a shirt held together by a safety pin and it appeared that his hair had not been recently groomed. He refused to talk to the social worker.

Jordan's mother, L.B., told a social worker several times that Jordan was injured in a fall. When questioned again, she said T.B. had given Jordan a beating. Reached by telephone, T.B. told the social worker that Jordan fell. The social worker told T.B. she did not believe him, and he said, "I beat him last night." When the parents arrived at Rady Children's Hospital, they informed the social worker that the previous evening L.B. hit Jordan with a belt approximately 15 to 20 times after he ate four doughnuts without permission. The parents said they routinely disciplined Jordan by hitting him with a belt or by making him exercise. L.B. and T.B. each said they were disciplined in a similar manner when they were growing up and, in later interviews, described childhoods with significant physical, and in L.B.'s case, sexual abuse.

The parents denied using physical discipline on D.B., who was then 18 months old. D.B. did not have any bruises, marks or injuries. T.B. said he was trying to protect his wife when he said he had beaten Jordan. They physically disciplined Jordan approximately four times a month using a belt. T.B. said he kept the buckle in his hand, folded the belt, and hit Jordan between five and 15 times, depending on the situation. T.B. did not believe it was appropriate to hit a child with a broom or other household item, but believed it was appropriate to hit a child for two to five minutes. The child should be told why he was being hit.

A pediatric child abuse specialist determined Jordan's injuries were consistent with inflicted child abuse. The pattern of injuries on his body indicated he was hit with a belt and belt buckle. The parents could not tell the doctor how many times they had hit Jordan with a belt, but acknowledged it was more than 20 times. They denied ever hitting D.B.

In a later interview, L.B. told the social worker that prior to this incident she and T.B. "didn't see beating kids as an issue" and they lived by the motto "spare the rod spoil the child." L.B. denied that any of the previous beatings had left marks on Jordan. She claimed the older scars on Jordan's body were "old scars from him being a kid." She was "not stressed out or angry ... just level-headed" when she hit him with the belt for eating doughnuts without permission. L.B. acknowledged her actions were "excessive and abusive." She said she and T.B. had hit Jordan with a belt less than 10 times and reports they had hit him more than 20 times were incorrect. When asked why she initially said Jordan had fallen, L.B. described an incident in the park in *325which a little girl who was riding a bicycle collided with Jordan, knocking him *57down. Jordan got right up and did not appear to have been injured in the accident.

T.B. said they had placed Jordan on restriction three months earlier for taking food and other items without permission. He would take chips and candy and hide them in the couch or his bed, and would lie about it when the food was still in his mouth. Jordan was not allowed to go into the kitchen without permission. Even though there were crumbs all over him and the couch, Jordan denied eating the doughnuts. T.B. said he let L.B. discipline Jordan and went upstairs to bathe D.B. He could hear Jordan screaming and crying. He now felt that the incident was excessive and said he and L.B. needed to make sure it never happened again.

After several initial visits with his parents, during which he was quiet and withdrawn, six-year-old Jordan refused further visits with his parents, even when they arrived to see him. He did not want to see his little brother. When told his parents were there to see him, Jordan would start crying and say he was scared. His caregiver reported that if they drove near the parents' home, Jordan would become tense and say, "don't turn there." Once, when he thought the caregiver was taking him to his parent's house, Jordan said, "No, scared, sad, scared." The caregiver said Jordan was constantly hungry, even after eating a full meal, and was hoarding food. Jordan told her that his mother had hit him with a clothes hanger. School staff reported that Jordan's behaviors had completely changed after he was removed from his parents' care and he was more active and verbal.

D.B. was doing well in foster care. There were no concerns about his development. His visits with his parents were positive, active, and pleasant. The parents gave clear directions to him, took time to teach him new things, and encouraged him with praise.

The jurisdictional and dispositional hearings were held on March 29, 2018. The parents submitted on the jurisdictional allegations of physical abuse in Jordan's case, and the juvenile court proceeded with a contested hearing in D.B.'s case. The San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency's court reports, as detailed above, were admitted in evidence. In an updated report, the social worker said the parents immediately started actively participating in services, with positive feedback from the service providers. The service providers said the parents understood the connection between how they were raised and how they decided to discipline their children, and accepted responsibility for their actions.

The social worker reported that Jordan continued to refuse to visit his parents. She believed it was unusual for a child that young to not want to see *326his mother or father. The parents' visits with D.B. were going well. The social worker said D.B. remained at risk of physical abuse because of the frequency and severity of the parents' physical abuse of his brother. D.B. was highly vulnerable to abuse due to his age, nonverbal status, and entry into a developmental stage typically associated with defiant and/or unruly behaviors.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
237 Cal. Rptr. 3d 53, 26 Cal. App. 5th 320, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/san-diego-cnty-health-human-servs-agency-v-tb-in-re-db-calctapp5d-2018.